India's Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, lived up to its name this week with several small to medium-sized investments across an array of companies, ranging from payment technology and health technology to online education.
Health tech start-up SigTuple raised $19 million in its Series B round led by marquee investors Accel India and IDG Ventures. Besides new investors VH Capital, Axilor Ventures and Trifecta Capital, existing investors Endiya Partners, pi Ventures, and Flipkart co-founder and group chief executive Binny Bansal, also participated in the round.
Accel, by the way, is also an initial investor in Bengaluru-based food delivery service provider Swiggy, the latest entrant into India’s coveted unicorn club of startups that have a valuation of $1 billion or more. Last week, Swiggy raised $210 million led by Naspers and billionaire DST Global. The funding valued Swiggy at nearly $1.3 billion, a tad higher than its rival Zomato $1.1 billion after its latest round of funding in February.
United Spirits Ltd (USL), a Bengaluru-headquartered alcoholic beverages company, acquired a 26% stake in Hip Bar for Rs 27 crore to drive sales through the e-commerce route. Through its mobile wallet and delivery app, Hip Bar allows a customer to pick products from a range of alcoholic beverages according to the brand of their choice. The product is either delvered at their doorstep or can be picked up by the customer from a retail store of their convenience.
Education start-ups continue to be attractive for investors in Bengaluru. Online education start-up Edureka raised $2 million in its first round of funding from Leo Capital India, a venture capital investment firm, to fund its business plans.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring city of Chennai, Aahaa Stores, an online platform for sourcing consumables for businesses, raised $2 million from Calega, a UAE-based global investment group.
If you think Bengaluru and its neighboring cities are only about the buzz surrounding startups, think again. Swedish furniture maker Ikea is set to open its first store in India in July in Hyderabad. From samosas to biryani to a list of products focussed primarily on Indian customers, Ikea seems to be leaving nothing to chance here.
Watch this space to know more next week.
